Middle aged woman DO have better sex, study finds

Sometimes it can feel that the cut off point for 'great sex' is somewhere in our thirties. After that, the picture painted makes it seem like it's all just holding hands and watching Bargain Hunt re-runs together.

But a new study has found that your sex life gets better with age because with age comes experience and the knowledge of what makes us tick.

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Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh interviewed 20 women between the ages of 45 and 60 and the results may surprise you.

The answers showed that while older women may be more likely to experience a lower sex drive, they also found it easier to communicate in bed and knew themselves a lot better than they did at a younger age.

Holly Thomas MD, the study's lead author, will present the findings at The North American Menopause Society tomorrow. There, she will also explain that her and the study's co-researcher decided to interview the women rather than collect data on sexual frequency because it 'allowed women to speak their own words regarding their experiences' and made it easier to 'capture nuances and individual variations in women's lived experiences of sexual function during midlife'.

Holly explained to The Independent that: 'One of the most enlightening findings of this study was the large number of women who had successfully adapted to any negative changes by modifying their expectations regarding sexual activity, putting more emphasis on the emotional and intimacy aspects of sex, or adapting the sex acts themselves.'

Many of the women interviewed attributed this to self-confidence and better communication – in particular when it came to asking partners to take prescription drugs for erectile dysfunction.

Professor Thomas, from Pittsburg University, also said that one of the most 'enlightening findings' from the research was the amount of women who had 'successfully adapted to any negative changes by modifying their expectations regarding sexual activity, putting more emphasis on the emotional and intimacy aspects of sex, or adapting the sex acts themselves.'

In short, we adapt to our changing sex life and take matters into our own hands so that though it's frequency may drop our satisfaction levels were higher.

This is fab news when you consider that previous research suggests sex helps us to live longer!